Getting rather sick of Clegg-bashing now

[msmouse]

As a dissaffected ex Lib-Dem supporter I was very firmly on the bandwagon of Clegg haters after all his broken promises following the general election.

 

However, in the run-up to the local elections and the AV referendum (to which I was previously planning to vote against the LibDems and vote no to AV simply as a means of giving Clegg and his party a bloody nose) I have had a bit of a rethink.

 

Firstly, a knee-jerk reaction that affects voting intentions based purely on dislike of Mr Clegg (and I have seen a lot of that on here) is surely not the way to go. For one thing, many people seem not to be able to distinguish between local and national politics. I personally feel that the LibDems have not done too bad a job locally and that voting in a Labour council would be a mistake. If you look at other Labour council's response to the cuts in their budget (eg Manchester and Liverpool) one might say that they are cutting the most sensitive services merely as a way of point-scoring against the national government. Do we really want that here? For another, this is the only chance we will get in our lifetimes to reform the voting system (although not perfect, AV is a start). To let our dislike of a single personality to influence our decision is very short-sighted. If the system is changed, then this will affect the way we vote long after Mr Clegg becomes a distant memory.

 

Secondly, why is no-one directing their ire at smarmy Botox-foreheaded 'Call Me Dave' and Georgie Boy multi-million pound trust fund tax dodger Osbourne? These two (and the rest of the Tory party are not just seeing the cuts as a necessity, but are actually appear to be enjoying kicking the poorest and most disadvantaged in our society whilst giving banks and big business as much as they can get way with. I'm not sure if behind closed doors Mr Clegg actually feels the same (his increasingly strained appearance may suggest otherwise).

 

Let us not forget that the LibDems are a very junior partner in the Conservative-led administration and their ability to veto Conservative policies is very limited. It suits Cameron very well to use Clegg as his 'human shield' and will no doubt be laughing at the fact that Clegg has become a human punchbag whilst he sits in the background and gets away with murder.

 

Although I will never be Clegg's biggest fan and am struggling to see right now who I could ever vote for at the next GE, I think it is time to stop focussing all this hatred on Clegg and look at the real bully(ingdon) boys that make up the core of the Government as the truely dislikable figures that they are.

[HeadingNorth]

You're in the wrong country; England returned a solid Tory majority at the last election. But for the smaller size of constituencies in Scotland and Wales, the Lib-Dems wouldn't be a partner in a coalition at all.

[Bobthebobs]

Difference is - Conservatives are doing what they said they would, and what they're known for doing. Lib Dems have backed down on every single thing they stood for.

[Darth Vader]

You're in the wrong country; England returned a solid Tory majority at the last election. But for the smaller size of constituencies in Scotland and Wales, the Lib-Dems wouldn't be a partner in a coalition at all.

 

:hihi: So solid, they needed the Lib-Dems to get their spiteful policies through.

[msmouse]

You're in the wrong country; England returned a solid Tory majority at the last election. But for the smaller size of constituencies in Scotland and Wales, the Lib-Dems wouldn't be a partner in a coalition at all.

 

I'm living in the UK (is this or is this not a country?) and I'm glad our Celtic friends are currently preventing us from living under an out and out plutocracy.

[HeadingNorth]

Difference is - Conservatives are doing what they said they would, and what they're known for doing. Lib Dems have backed down on every single thing they stood for.

 

They have not. All of their policies on civil liberty are being implemented; they've got their large increase in tax allowances; they've forced the Tories to abandon some of their more radical economic plans; to mention but three.

[taxman]

Poor Nick is finding to his cost that if you hitch a ride on the back of a scorpion it will sting you, because that is its nature.

 

Some of the vitriol, personal attacks and anti AV claims from the Tories and others (eg Baroness Warsi's claims about AV being a boost for the BNP, despite them being firmly in the NO camp) must have really brought home to Nick just how unpleasant some of his coalition "colleagues" are.

[sccsux]

I'm living in the UK (is this or is this not a country?(

 

No. The UK is not a country. The UK is made up of four, distinct countries.

[HeadingNorth]

:hihi: So solid, they needed the Lib-Dems to get their spiteful policies through.

 

That's precisely my point. England returned 533 MPs and the Tories took 298 of them; a majority of sixty-three. Because constituency sizes in Wales and Scotland, where the Tories did badly, are considerably smaller, that outright majority was turned into a minority.

[msmouse]

No. The UK is not a country. The UK is made up of four, distinct countries.

 

Country or not, we are all UK nationals. We do dont have seperate English, Scottish, Welsh and NI passports. Would you say that the USA is not a country?